Gentle Mother, Font of Mercy
by Silver-Angelic-Lilly
Summary: Jane Potter, the twin sister of James, decides to take action and saves Harry from the Dursleys. She will bring him back to the world he was stolen from, but not as her nephew - as her son.
1. Chapter 1

Petunia Dursley was not a stupid woman. Despite what many persons thought, she was indeed a very intelligent woman. As a result, she knew when a good deal had made its way into her lap.

Jane Potter was also not a stupid woman. This was known for a majority of her life. Unlike her older brother, James, she displayed more brains than brawn. And she was propositioning Petunia Dursley with a very good deal.

It had all started when Jane had found out that the false name on the documents for her nephew, Harry Potter, was created by Albus Dumbledore. After much searching, she had found out instead of the fake magical family Harry was supposed to go to, Harry was sent to his muggle aunt and uncle. At 24 years of age, Jane was not the most experienced when it came to children. But as the last living magical blood relative to Harry, she saw it as her duty to raise him. He was only 4 years old, and thus Jane was deprived of the earliest years of Harry growing up, but she wanted to make it right.

"Boy! Come here!" Having grown up in an unloving environment, Harry was not a large boy. But when he came into the living room of the Dursley's, and in of front of Jane, the young woman swore he was barely 2. She grit her teeth, and knelt in front of Harry.

"Harry, do you remember me?" He shook his head no, not looking into her eyes. Aunt Petunia didn't like it when he looked people in the face. "Well Harry, I am your Aunt Jane. I was your father's sister. I have been looking for you for years now Harry. And I have come to ask you if you would like to come live with me."

Harry couldn't believe his ears. This lady was his aunt? She looked so pretty! Her sweater was a pale green, and looked so soft. Her skirt was ironed crisp, and yet flowed easily. Her shoes were simple flats, her hair was in a simple ponytail, not at all messy like his, but neat, soft and long. She had glasses, pretty silver ones, square ones! "Why you want me?"

She smiled at him, and then Harry noticed the pearls in her ears and at her neck. "Because we are family, and family must stick together." She held her arms open, and Harry wasted no time in hugging her. "Now Harry, I want you to go and get your things while I finish speaking to your Aunt Petunia." Harry nodded, and quickly made his way to his cupboard to gather all of his stuff.

He was tiny, skin and bones, bad eyesight, oversized clothing. Jane's gaze turned sharply to Petunia. "How DARE you." She stood up, a small black wand sliding into her hand, pointed at the thin horse-like woman. "He is your nephew! Why is he treated like dirt?!" Petunia stammered before Jane quickly shut her up. "I don't care. He will not be here again." Harry stumbled with a small bag, carrying all he had.

"Harry, is this everything?" He nodded. Jane smiled, and subtly slid her wand back into the holster beneath her sleeve of her sweater, and picked Harry up into her arms. She felt the bones in his back press against her arm. She bit back a growl, and walked out of the house towards the apparition point. Many of the people peeked out their windows, and saw a wealthy woman taking the 'troublemaker' of the neighbourhood. Tongues would spit the story out at an alarming rate, and the Dursley's would be shunned.

"Harry sweetie, I need you to hang on tight to me." Harry quickly wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged tightly. Jane held him close and spun on her heel, and with a quiet 'pop', Privet Drive was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**I have decided to try something. Every odd numbered chapter (1,3,5,7, etc) will be Harry and Jane, every even numbered chapter (2,4,6,8, etc) Will be Jane's Hogwarts years.**

* * *

"This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" The red haired girl entered the compartment with a black haired boy. She seemed quite excited, but was wiping her eyes. I merely turned back to my muggle book, and kept reading quietly.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," said the dark haired boy, apparently trying to be encouraging.

"Slytherin?" James decided then was the time to open his big mouth. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" His new friend, Sirius, seemed to become saddened.

"My whole family have been in Slytherin," he said.

"Blimey," said James, "and I thought you seemed all right!"

Sirius grinned. "Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where are you heading, if you've got the choice?" James lifted an invisible sword.

"'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad."

"And yet Mum was in Slytherin, James, do try to remember that. All of the houses have their own noble history, not just bloody Gryffindor and their bravery."

"Shut it." He hissed at me. The dark haired boy made a slight disapproving noise. James turned on him. "Got a problem with that?"

"No," said the boy, though his slight sneer said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy—"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" interjected Sirius. James roared with laughter.

The red haired girl sat up, rather flushed, and looked from James to Sirius in dislike. "Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Oooooo... " James and Sirius imitated her lofty voice; James tried to trip Severus as he passed. "See ya, Snivellus!" James called, as the compartment door slammed. I closed my book, picked up my small bag, and left. "Wait, where are you going? Dad said we should stick together." My back to them, I didn't even give them the benefit of my gaze.

"I'd rather kiss a troll than stay here any longer." With that I strode out, looking for some type of empty compartment. After seven or eight different compartments, I found the red haired girl, a pair of two blonde people, and the dark haired boy. I knocked on the door, and watched as the door swung open.

"Can I sit with you?" The red haired girl smiled, and motioned towards the seat beside her. I smiled and sat down. "I wanted to apologise for my brother. He's a dunderhead with a head full of mush."

"That's alright. I'm Lily Evans." She held out her hand. I grasped it gently and shook.

"I'm Jane Potter."

"Severus Snape." The dark haired boy held out his hand. I shook it as well.

"I'm terribly sorry for my brother." He shrugged, in a simple 'That's ok.' manner.

"Lucius Malfoy." The young man with the blonde hair held his hand out. The three of us shook it, when the young girl also held her hand out.

"Narcissia Black." My eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you related to Sirius Black?" She nodded shyly.

"He's my cousin." I nodded, and we all sat talking about the newness of Hogwarts and school until we arrived at the massive castle.

The sorting was an entirely unique experience. We had a hat placed on our heads to sort us. On the train, we all tried to see if we could all get into the same house. Narcissia was in Slytherin, so that was the one we would all try for. Lily was next, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Evans, Lily!" We watched her walk forward on trembling legs and sit down upon the rickety stool. The professor dropped the Sorting Hat onto her head, and barely a second after it had touched the dark red hair, the hat cried, "Gryffindor!"

Severus let out a tiny groan. Lily took off the hat, handed it back to the professor, then hurried toward the cheering Gryffindors, but as she went she glanced back at Snape, and there was a sad little smile on her face. Sirius moved up the bench to make room for her. She took one look at him, seemed to recognize him from the train, folded her arms, and firmly turned her back on him. The roll call continued.

"Malfoy, Lucius!" Barely 30 seconds passed before the hat yelled out "Slytherin!" I was next, but after by bloody brother.

"Potter, James!" He strutted up, a pathetic swagger, and the hat was placed on his head. A minute passed. Then two. He seemed to be arguing with the hat before it yelled out "Gryffindor!" Oh no, poor Lily. I smiled a sad smile to her as James tried hard to get her attention.

"Potter, Jane!" I took a deep breath, squeezed Severus' hand, and walked up. The hat went on my head, and it began, the sorting.

_My dear, you are a soothing mind to sort, especially compared to your brother._

'How so?'

_Your bother is the favourite at home with your father, and at times your mother, whilst you are left alone with no company but yourself. Your only request is to be in somewhere you belong, whilst he demands a place where he can rule._

'You have seen his mind, and you have seen mind. You know I would only want somewhere where I can be myself, not just his younger twin sister.'

_Indeed, my dear girl. I dare not try to split you from your new friends, so I will put you in _"Slytherin!" I got up, relieved to be away from James. I smiled at Lily, all alone in Gryffindor, and walked to the opposite side of the hall, sitting beside Lucius.

"Thank Merlin for that." He patted me on the shoulder and we waited for Severus. At last, when only a dozen students remained to be sorted, the professor called him. We watched him place the hat upon his head. "Slytherin!" cried the Sorting Hat. And Severus Snape moved off to come sit by us, away from Lily, to where the Slytherins were cheering him, to where we patted him on the back, happy to keep the larger part of our group together.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sooo, sorry for the break, but I needed some time to cope with my grandmother's death. That and I also finished school (First year done already, woot woot!), so now I'm on summer break. And so here is a chapter for my lovely followers/favouriters/people who are just reading this for the first time. Sorry it's so short, my muse has only just started to stretch her legs from her long nap.**

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Harry wasn't sure how to react once they had stopped spinning. Jane held him carefully, and walked gently towards the huge house at the end of the long driveway. Her arm felt wet, and she pulled it away to see the sweater sleeve stained a dark red.

"Missy!" The small house elf popped up beside them, and Harry let out a startled cry. "Shh, Harry, she won't hurt you. She's a house elf. They won't hurt you." He just clung tighter and buried his head into her neck. "Missy, I need you to go to Lucius and Narcissia Malfoy's house, and ask them to come. I have Harry here, and he needs immediate medical attention. Then I need you to go Hogwarts, find Severus Snape, and tell him the same thing. And hurry!"

"Missy will do this!" She popped away, and Jane walked quickly into the house, carefully carrying Harry into the bedroom she had set up for him.

"Harry, sweetie, I need to see your back." She sat him down on the bed and carefully moved to take off his shirt, but Harry scrambled away. "Harry, I'm not going to hurt you. I need to see your back to clean it up and make sure it gets better." Her arms were carefully in front of her as she moved closer to him and took off his shirt, slowly to make sure Harry didn't get startled again. Jane's eyes widened, and she bit her lip. There were bruises, welts, and whip marks littered across his skin. His arms had bruises – hand prints – around them. Oh god. _Hand prints?! _Jane took a deep breath to steel herself. "Ok Harry, I'm going to take you to go have a bath so we can clean these, ok?"

"No! No bath! Please!" His words were tinged with panic. Baths hurt. The bath water was hot, it hurt, and Aunt Petunia always scrubbed _hard_, sometimes scraping his skin open, or leaving nail marks in his skin.

"Baths aren't scary." She said carefully, carrying him towards the bathroom, arms careful to avoid his wounded back. A quick glance at his chest saw less marks, but bruises were still there.

"Baths hurt! No bath!" Harry begged her desperately. She simply carried him into the bathroom, sat him down on the toilet, before filling up the bathtub with warm water. It was at a low level, so it did not cover him completely, but enough to cover his legs and get him clean. Harry stopped protesting, and simply waited.

"Here Harry, try touching it." Touching it? He watched as her fingers slipped into the water. She wiggled her fingers in the water, before holding her hand out to him. "I won't let you be hurt." She held his hand and it went under the water.

"It no hurt." She shook her head.

"No, it doesn't." She carefully undressed him and helped settle him into the water, carefully washing his back with a soft cloth as he sat still. She carefully washed his hair, and getting him to lean back gently, rinsed his hair out. She then picked him up in a fluffy towel, dried him off, and carried him back to the bed, where she saw a small pair of soft blue footed pajamas. Silently thanking Missy, she carefully helped Harry into the clothes, and held him against her skin. A gentle knock came at the door, and a soft voice came through it.

"Jane? You called us?"

"One second Cissi." She looked at Harry. "Harry, some friends of mine want to come and meet you. Do you think you can see them? They're going to make you all better and fix you up."

"Fix up my ouchies?" She laughed gently and nodded.

"Yes Harry, they'll fix up your ouchies." He sat there quietly and then nodded.

"Okay."

"Ok Cissi, come in, but no sudden movements please!" Narcissia came in, her soft gray robes reminiscent of her medical uniform from years gone by. Lucius came right behind her, his robes black, both had their hair tied back, Narcissia's in a high ponytail, Lucius' at the base of his neck. Jane visibly relaxed as she saw the medical bag in Lucius' hand. Jane then looked at the door, then to the married couple. "Sev?"

"Dumbledore refused to let him leave." A deep sigh left her lips. Fucking Dumbledore.

"Harry," She turned back to the small child in her lap, "This is Narcissia and Lucius Malfoy. They're here to help you." Harry buried his head into her shoulder, eyes watching the couple carefully. Narcissia knelt down beside Jane and Harry carefully, a soft smile on her face.

"Hello Harry. It's nice to meet you." She tilted her head slightly. "You look much like your Aunt, but you have your mother's bright eyes."

"I have mama's eyes?" He lifted his head and looked her straight in the face. _Bless Cissy and her mothering instincts._ Narcissia nodded, a pleasant smile on her face as she mumbled to Jane.

"Jane, what are the extent of his injuries?"

"Whipping, bruising, malnutrition at the very least. Probably a few broken bones improperly healed." Narcissia grit her teeth, and proceeded to pull out a few salves and potions from her bag, the thought at the back of her mind that, under different circumstances, it could have been Draco in the bed, scared out of his poor mind.


End file.
